Quote of the Day
an admirable concern to keep lines open to writing in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and America.
Seamus Heaney
|
|
Book Search
Subscribe to our mailing list
|
|
Order by 16th December to receive books in time for Christmas.
Please bear in mind that all orders may be subject to postal delays that are beyond our control.
| |
A Book of LivesEdwin Morgan10% off eBook (EPUB)
Categories: 21st Century, Scottish
Imprint: Carcanet Poetry Publisher: Carcanet Press Available as: eBook (EPUB) Needs ADE! (Pub. Aug 2011) 9781847778239 £9.95 £8.96 Paperback (96 pages) (Pub. Feb 2007) 9781857549188 Out of Stock To use the EPUB version, you will need to have Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) installed on your device. You can find out more at https://www.adobe.com/uk/solutions/ebook/digital-editions.html. Please do not purchase this version if you do not have and are not prepared to install, Adobe Digital Editions.
Is the universe rippling with life? What sign is
there that space is filled With anything but gas and fire and rock? Are we the tillers to have it tilled? I think so! And with these red hands, an act of love? Why not? We cry but we create, we kill but we build. from 'Love and the Worlds'
No wonder Edwin Morgan is Scotland's best-loved poet. His poems teem with lives and loves and are marked by an unusual love of the present and the future. He finds forms for themes and ideas just out of reach. In his latest collection poems both profound and witty are to be found: occasional verse that transcends its occasion, explorations of the human condition conducted with a virtuosic lightness of touch. A Book of Lives draws together the themes that inform his poetic world. The largest vistas of human history, from twenty billion years BC to 9/11 and the 'war on terror'; Scotland from Bannockburn to the opening of the Scottish parliament; portraits - of Rimbaud, the emperor Hirohito, Raeburn's skating Reverend Walker... Poems for birthdays and elegies celebrate friends; a dramatic dialogue about cancer sets personal experience in a wry evolutionary context. At the heart of the collection, a major sequence, 'Love and a Life', affirms the inextinguishable energies of love and art.
Awards won by Edwin Morgan
Winner, 2000 Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry
Praise for Edwin Morgan
'Edwin Morgan's experimental and science fiction poems often imply joyful adventure, boundless optimism.'
Carol Rumens, The Guardian where 'A Little Catechism' was Poem of the Week 'distinctly and excitingly nonconformist [...] they stunningly convey the poet's love for Glasgow. The traditional structure is interjected with Scottish language and anecdotes, making it a thought-provoking read.' Scottish Field 'A broad celebration of one of the most lively and creative writers of his time' Mike Ferguson, Stride Magazine 'For readers new to Morgan, it forms a perfect introduction, showcasing his fearless experimentation... For those who already know Morgan's work, this selection is a welcome romp of rediscovery. It offers a reminder that he masters every form - from sonnets to strict rhyme schemes with free rhythm to the disintegrating word curtains of some of his early concrete poems - and gilds them all with the humour and humanity that infuse his own effervescent voice.... He never shrinks from the darkness but the shimmering beauty of his words somehow makes it more bearable.' Fiona Rintoul, The Herald 'Thank God, thank whatever all-seeing quick-witted deity you like, we have Edwin Morgan to show us how to live, and keep living..."pleasure" is nowhere strong enough to convey the joyous energy of his work.' Kathleen Jamie 'Edwin Morgan's translation of twenty-five poems into Scots, now reissued after almost half a century, finesses one difficulty by substituting another. Wi Haill Voice gives Mayakovsky a shout from the streets without making him a Dickensian exercised in dialect - Scots provides the necessary sense of estrangement.' William Logan, The New Criterion |
Share this...
Quick Links
Carcanet Poetry
Carcanet Classics
Carcanet Fiction
Carcanet Film
Lives and Letters
PN Review
Video
Carcanet Celebrates 50 Years!
The Carcanet Blog
One Little Room: Peter McDonald
read more
Collected Poems: Mimi Khalvati
read more
Invisible Dog: Fabio Morbito, translated by Richard Gwyn
read more
Dante's Purgatorio: Philip Terry
read more
Billy 'Nibs' Buckshot: John Gallas
read more
Emotional Support Horse: Claudine Toutoungi
read more
|
We thank the Arts Council England for their support and assistance in this interactive Project.
|
|
This website ©2000-2024 Carcanet Press Ltd
|